The Village Hidden in the Hills
by Tiburon1984
Summary: The Village Hidden in the Hills is about a young ninja named Inumaru. It follows him through his adventures as a ninja and the confrontation of his family's dark past.
1. Chapter 1:An Uneasy Dream

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. To be honest, I don't own anything. :P

This Fanfic is for my good acquaintance Carrie. She is the only reason I am writing it. If anyone else reads it and doesn't like it, I am sorry for wasting your time XD.

Chapter 1: An Easy Dream

Inumaru Misukasha sat at his desk starring at his text book. There was so much to know and so little time. His head started to feel heavy as he felt it bobbing forward. "Not yet" He thought, "just a few more chapters..." The world became dimmer and his thoughts became incoherent. _If I sleep now, then I will never become…_

His body jerked from the sound of his door sliding opening. "Inu, dear. How come you haven't gone to bed yet? Tomorrow is such a big day for you. You don't want to fall asleep during the ceremony, do you?"  
"I'm fine mom. I was just doing some studying." He said with annoyance. "And besides even if I didn't have any sleep, I wouldn't fall asleep tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day I become a ninja!" Inumaru beamed. "The day I waited for my whole life."  
His mother touched his shoulder, "That's fine dear, but will you at least call it a night? You will be able to stay up tomorrow." Inumaru gave out a loud sigh and closed his text book. "Tomorrow, isn't just the day you become a ninja Inu, it is also the day you become a man." Inumaru smiled, and looked up his mother, she was smiling too, but her eyes were sad.  
"What's wrong mother?" She shook her head. "It's nothing. You and Isia are growing up so fast and it's just hard for a parent sometimes to accept that. Now take off your glasses and get to bed."  
His mother ushered him over to his bed, tucked him in, and kissed his forehead. "You shouldn't do that mushy stuff mother! What will all the other ninjas think?" She grinned, "Good night, Inuy" As he protested being called that name, she turned off the light. Her figure stood at the door for a moment, blackened from the light behind her. Then she closed the door and was gone. Inumaru's room was completely dark. He waited for his mother's footsteps to fade before reaching around in the dark to find his night table. He opened it up and found what he was looking for. "Ah, this will be the last night I need you, Shingno-san." Plugging in his action figure nightlight the room suddenly lit up. "After tonight, I won't be afraid anymore." _Ninjas can't be afraid. _

The bed made a loud creek as he flopped back in it. His eyes stared at the ceiling for a moment but drifted to the poster hanging above his bed. It was a poster of Shingo, his favorite ninja of all time. He was so famous in the Village Hidden the Hills that there was a movie made about him. It had been Inumaru's dream since he had heard of Shingo, to become a ninja just like him. The weight of sleep suddenly returned. In order to become like Shingo he would have to master countless jutsus. And so far he hadn't mastered a single one. _So much to learn and so little time_… His eyes closed and darkness took him.

Inumaru stood at the edge of a pond. A cliff on the other side had a waterfall cascading down making a low rumbling sound when the moving water hit the pond. He knew this place; it was a place he regularly visited to study by himself. A girl sat on a rock close to him looking out across the water. It was his older sister, Isia. Her long brown hair was put up in pony tail. She didn't seem to notice he was there.

"Sis, what are you doing here?" She didn't seem to hear him. On her headband was the Village Hidden in the Hills symbol two arches beside each other. _What is going on?_ Isia suddenly tensed up and drew a kuknife out of her ninja pouch "What are you doing here?" She wasn't looking at him. Inumaru followed her gaze to a man standing on top of the water. _That's so cool! How is he doing that?_ But the admiration suddenly vanished when the man drew a large sword resting on his back. His clothes were black and torn. On his forehead was a headband Inumaru couldn't recognize. A wicked smile came to his face and his eyes glared, "I finally found both of you."

Inumaru looked around but there wasn't a second person. _Is he talking about me?_ The man stuck his large sword into the water and the sword stuck in it as if it were solid ground. He started to make hand signs in a rapid blur and quickly uttering the ancient ninja language. "Ninja Art: Water Style. Water Dragon jutsu." A water dragon's head rose from the pond and hovered in the air. "Your father was a fool to think he could hide you here."

Inumaru fell to his knees, his whole body was shaking. _What do I do? Should I try to run? Can I out run him?_

"Earth Style: Rock Wall Jutsu" He heard his sister say in a firm voice. She didn't seem scared at all. Her legs were planted on the rock and her eyes were focused. Suddenly, two walls of mud and rock by the shore exploded upwards to make a wall in front of her and Inumaru. This time she turned to him, "Run Inu, go back and tell dad what is happening here. I will be ok." Before he could think his legs started to carry him away into the forest. _I can't leave her. I can't leave her. _ But no matter how much he said it in his mind, his legs would not stop running in the opposite direction. There was a loud roar from behind him and an explosion. There was a moment of silence that made him freeze. A loud scream rose from where he had just come. Everything in his body felt cold. The trees behind him began to break and fall. That ninja was coming for him. Just before the shadow broke the tree line, he woke up.

Inumaru sat up in his bed looking around his room. It was still dark outside._It was just a dream._ He reassured himself. Was he really such a coward? "When the time comes will I run…?" He slowly murmured to himself. Inumaru felt hopeless. _Shingo probably would have beaten him no problem. _"Who am I kidding? I will never be like Shingo." Pulling the covers over his shoulder he stared at his nightlight. This time, sleep came slowly.


	2. Chapter 2:The Village Hidden in the Wind

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 2: The Village Hidden in the Wind

"Wake up, Inuy!" His mother touched his shoulder. "I told you, you shouldn't have stayed up so late. You are lucky I came in to check on you. You should probably start getting ready."

His eyes opened quickly. _Today is the day I get my headband! _Inumaru jumped out of bed and ran for his closet. "What should I wear mom?" Behind him, he heard her chuckle.

"A ninja needs his mother to pick out his clothes?" This time the smile in her eyes was playful.

Inumaru's face turned a beet red, "That's…um… I meant what do I have to wear. I don't know what you cleaned…" _Nice recovery,_ he thought.

"Oh, in that case." She put a finger to her mouth as if thinking. "I know your cute light blue dress shirt and pants are clean."

"Ok… well I need you to get out. I have to change, and make sure the door is closed this time!" Inumaru grabbed his blue dress clothes and put them on. "Today I will become a ninja", he said out loud to himself. Looking around his room he was trying not to forget anything, nothing came to mind so he darted downstairs and to the kitchen.

He slid open the kitchen door and froze when he saw his sister sitting beside the table. That dream…he had forgotten about it. Isia was saying something to their mother and both of the women started laughing. His father was ignoring them studying some charts and documents he had sprawled out on the table taking up a lot of room. Everyone in the room stopped to look up at him standing at the door way. "Congratulations!" They all said in unison. Inumaru tried as hard as he could to stop from blushing, but it came anyways.

Isia got up and ran over to him. "My little brother a ninja!" She took her hand and rubbed it in his hair making it all messy. Inumaru protested by pushing her hand back. "Stop that, why are you always doing that." She laughed and pitched his cheek. "Don't be so tense, there will be plenty of time in your life to be. Now you should be excited! Lighten up a little bit Inu." Inumaru just blinked up at her. This is the sister he had always known, the carefree girl who was always happy. The one in the dream was different…

"Son!" Inumaru jumped his father loved to sneak up on him, a hand patted him on the back. "About time, you came down to breakfast. Why do you look so gloom?"

"Oooh!" His mother squealed. "You look so good in that dress suit. You have great taste Inumaru!"_ Is she mocking me?_  
"Momm, stop that!" She was readjusting his shirt so it lay correctly on his shoulders. He jerked back from her. "Please, can I just have some breakfast?" All three of their faces sadden.

"Sure, Inu you know we are just teasing." His mother said softy. She went back to cooking and his sister sat back down.

"Something bothering you, son?" This time his father's voice was serious.

"Yeah dad, I just had a bad dream that's all." Inumaru looked down, he couldn't force himself to face his father.

"Hmm, why don't you tell me about it? You mother will still be cooking for a while." He lightly grabbed Inumaru's arm and with his other pointed to the living room. "Let's sit"

Inumaru sat there silently. He didn't know what to say. _Father, wouldn't understand. He might even think less of me._ _If I told him I let sis die in my dream._

"You know son, dreams are reflections of the subconscious. Why don't you tell me yours? I will interrupt it for you." He smiled, "If you are having doubts about become a ninja, that is completely normal. But I can't help you if you don't tell me." Inumaru tried to suppress the shock in his father's words, but it was too obvious. "I see." His father lay back in his chair.

Inumaru told him everything that had happened in the dream. His father was now lending forward with his head resting on his hands as if in deep thought. "That symbol on the man's headband. Do you remember what it looks like?"

"Well, I don't think it was a real symbol. It was four lines in a row and that's about it." His father's eyes betrayed him. What Inumaru had said obvious had affected him.

"You did the right thing in your dream. If you ever encounter someone like that in your dream, you need to run."

"Does he really exist?" Now Inumaru was curious.

"That doesn't matter. The headband you saw is from a place called The Village Hidden in the Rain."

"Village Hidden in the Rain, where is that? Is that close to the Village Hidden in Sand?"

His father looked uncomfortable. "No, not quite. There are more villages that exist beyond the Village hidden in the Stone and the Village hidden in the Sand. Further east there are more countries that many from around here haven't heard of. There is even an ocean beyond them. The Village Hidden in the Hills is called by the Stone and Sand the Village at the End of the Earth. We are no threat to the eastern villages. In fact, we aren't even on most of their maps. The power struggle ends at the borders of the Sand. There is a joke among the Shinobi here, that we are called The Village Hidden in the Wind. We are only rumors to those who exist far to the east. The natural barriers such as the desert to our southeast and the mountains to our northeast make it hard to travel to our village. So we are isolated from most of the world. "

"Wow. That's incredible. What are those villages called and what's the ocean look like?" Inumaru had never heard of this from school before. Was his father making this all up? The Village Hidden in the Sand and Stone were far away as it was. There were more Villages beyond them?

"Breakfast is ready." His mother stood at the kitchen doorway. "Make sure to clean your hands before sitting down."

"We will talk about this later" Inumaru's father said before he could ask.

The dream seemed less important, Inumaru's imagination was running wild. He wanted to see these villages and the ocean his father spoke of…

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Preview of the Next Chapter:

Chapter 3: The Light Ceremony

Inumaru had been to this ceremony many times, but this was the first time he was actually going to participate in it. His father and mother had gone ahead to meet up with some of the other Shinobi families. Isia, however, stayed behind, but seem distracted from all the passing people. There were a lot of people out today. Many people had the day off and the kids were on break. After the Light Ceremony would be three days of festivities. "Isia, have you ever heard of the Village Hidden in the Rain?" She stopped 

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Thank you for reading this far. If you have any insight or comments about my writing, please feel free to review. (Even if it's bad, I don't care) I am aware of how poorly my writing skills are XD


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